Android on Raspberry Pi rumours are ‘promising’, says Pi creator

The Raspberry Pi could soon work with Google’s Android operating system, at least according to a new report.

A Wired article quotes Raspberry Pi creator Eben Upton as saying that early reports of Android support for the microcomputer are “encouraging”, adding: “It’s a promising sign and a nice compliment to the open source community.”

In a surprise move last month, Google assembled an AOSP build repository for the Raspberry Pi, strongly hinting at the possible introduction of an official Android fork. Speaking to Wired, developer Matt Brailsford said:

“Given the wealth of libraries, add-ons and apps for the Android OS, I would assume that wouldmake a lot of these reusable on the Pi, which again may open up some pretty interesting doors, and with mobile dev being the big thing right now, it could bring in some pretty interesting people to the community with some fresh ideas.”

So what are the advantages of official support for Android on Raspberry Pi? First, Android is familiar, which makes it accessible to users who are savvy with the OS. Android also supports millions of apps, has extensive community support and, if featured on the Pi, could offer a cheap way of accessing Android TV.